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Of course, the wish was that the Cardinals would still be playing right now. Then they would still be compiling plays, and we wouldn’t be able to put together a final list of Play Of The Year nominees.

But the season is over. So our crack staff here at azcardinals.com and in the multi-talented broadcast department came up with seven nominees for the Play Of The Year. So you can vote below to make a choice. I am sure there will be those that think we are forgetting one or two, but here was our list — in no particular order — based on not only the play but the context of the play (with video right here):

The St. Louis Strip — Steve Breaston hustles down the field after a lost fumble to create one of his own, saving a touchdown and saving a win against the Rams.

He Took It To The House — The Hyphen, LaRod Stephens-Howling, returns a kickoff for a touchdown against the Raiders and wins a house for a fan.

Rhodes Map To Paydirt — Kerry Rhodes picks up a fumble to score the go-ahead TD in the big win against the Saints.

Feelin’ Good — Kicker Jay Feely runs in a fake field goal for a touchdown against the Broncos.

Mile ‘High” Run — Tim Hightower breaks out a 35-yard TD run for the exclamation point on a win and his biggest game as a pro.

First Of Many? — John Skelton’s first NFL TD pass is a doozy — 74 yards to Andre Roberts against Dallas.

Christmas Present — Feely boots the game-winning field goal against the Cowboys to cap a very merry Christmas.

I voted for the Breaston strip as the play of the year. I love smart players and Breaston is one of the few smart and talented players on this team. The strip play combined all the good qualities you look for in a football player.

I can not wait to see McNab as a veteran with the cards. However, they need to draft a roockie qb on the round. I’m also hoping to fire Bill Davis and replaced with Singletery. This would be a dream come true for this team to turn around into where they were two years ago. Anything is possible.

I vote Feely’s touchdown. My play of the year goes to Whiz and Graves for bringing in Jay Feely and Kerry Rhodes. They were both huge upgrades over Rackers (awful clutch kicker) and Rolle (fundamentally broken in every way).

I think next year at this time we’ll be thanking them for drafting Schofield and Washington at linebacker. Oh yeah, please fire Bill Davis. At least Clancy Pendergast made the defense entertaining.

Gotta agree with MikeFlorio here! The play of the year was definitely letting go of a top ten draft pick, franchise QB potential guy, to start a bum who couldn’t hold his job on the Browns of all places. Whiz and Cards management, way to take a postseason contender and turn them into a team that couldn’t win in the worst division in the league!

I am hearing reports on the radio, internet and newpaper from local media that the Cardinals are phasing out Steve Breaston. I really hope that is not the case. I am not sure why the Cardinals wouldn’t at least make an offer. I know a lot of things can change between now and free agency especially with the CBA in limbo, but what are your thoughts regarding this?
Thanks!

In your article “Free Agents Wait”, you wrote, “‘It’s been a tough year but I got through it,” Hayes said. “Let’s just say I’m not worrying about being here next year.'” (please don’t sue me for plagiarism)

Did you take that as him saying he doesn’t care if he stays here, or he isn’t worried about his job security in Arizona?

Nah, my vote goes to the Skelton play. First of many indeed after many plays before this it was the first time they all did something right. Beanie finally picks up the blitz and performs a good block, Andre Roberts was absolutly wide open and didn’t drop the pass, and finally it was against Dallas on Christmas.

Darren and any usual blog readers will know what i voted for in the poll. I would have put the 80 yard Hightower run, given it was tied with AP and Charles for longest run in the NFL this year…but it was of little significance to the cards.

if the cards go after orton or alex smith it will be the same old story. bad season with guys they “didnt do what we thought they could”. i was really happy how bad orton played against us as well. hopefully that game would give the cards a little insight into what we would have to look forward to.

Hey Darren, what would you think of the Cards making a play for Kolb? The Eagles are obviously going to resign Vick and I’m sure they would like to get something for Kolb. They gave him a ton of cash last off season and I’m sure won’t be willing to do the same this year. With the Cards receivers, I think he could be great.

Holy crap, if anyone else calls Leinart a “franchise QB” you should ban them from posting, Darren. Let’s recap: After being released by the Cardinals, and despite several other NFL teams having significant QB issues, no one bit on Leinart as a starter, or even as a #2 guy behind a shaky starter. He became a 3rd stringer in Houston. He may never play another NFL down for all we know, and yet he’s a “franchise QB”? Not to mention that if we kept him around, he was due to make more $ next year than KURT WARNER would have made this year. You can fairly question releasing him when the Cards did this year given the Cards’ lack of alternatives, but calling him a franchise QB to try to bolster your position completely delegitimizes your argument.

It is interesting that we have Cards fans already saying that the team should NOT go after A. Smith, Orton, etc. Considering that they were both starters for their respective teams (albeit not good ones), and that one of them is a former #1 OA pick in the draft from just a few years ago, I hope people start realizing that top NFL QB’s don’t just grow on trees and getting one isn’t as simple as just asking for one in your Christmas stocking. We also have some fans who think Skelton is the guy, and others who don’t. Some think we should draft a QB with our first pick, others don’t. Just goes to show, this business of running an NFL team is complicated, and I’m just talking about our needs at one position, without even mentioning all the other problems we have, and without even considering the monetary constraints under which this team operates due to ownership. It’s easy to play armchair GM/head coach because all you need to say is “the team would’ve won the division with Leinart” or whatever, and there’s no way to challenge the premise. But if the only football team you’ve ever managed is your fantasy team, it’s hard to think that all of you know better than Graves & Whiz.

Hahahha smith and orton have only been on BAD teams. Sure their stats have been ok some years, and been drafted high (even though we all know that doesn’t mean anything. Ask jamrcus russel). All that matters is wins, and they have both proven they can’t do that very well, what ever you excuse is on why that is is up to you.

Thanks for putting these plays together for our choosing; I had to go with ‘The Hyphen’ and his return for a TD. That dude was pretty dynamic this year and special teams found ways to make things happen. Kerry Rhodes had himself a nice season with the INTs and scores.

for all you guys blaming davis as a dc, i dont think it was all his fault at all. you cant win a game when you dont have guys excuting the game plan, players said in article after article this year ” we just didnt stick to our game plan”. theres only 3 players i would even bring back from that entire d Branch, Lenon, Rhodes. dockett is one of my favorite players but non of them seemed to show up when it mattered the most.